The last time the Wings were out West, David Perron got to thinking as the team watched Michigan play Alabama in the Rose Bowl from its hotel in San Jose. It was the first day of the new year. Perron, the 17-year vet, would credit "my craziness" for his clairvoyance.
"We were slipping away from the playoff picture and I counted in my head how many points I thought we would need to get comfortable and really get back in the picture like we ended up doing," Perron said after the Red Wings' comeback win over the Canucks last Saturday that pushed their record to 10-2-2 since January.
The Wings grabbed a comeback win over the Sharks the next day, thanks to two third-period goals by Perron. In the locker room after the game, Perron told his teammates, "We gotta get 18, 20 points this month." They wound up with 20, matching Detroit's most productive month of hockey in 12 years.
"Sometimes you just gotta manifest a little bit of your energy," said Perron. "It's just the start of it, though."
After a brutal, injury-plagued December, the Red Wings found themselves in January by getting healthy, rediscovering their defensive structure and riding goaltender Alex Lyon, the AHL journeyman who's suddenly fourth in the NHL in save percentage (.921). How long that lasts remains to be seen, but the team-wide growth undergirding this surge feels sustainable. And speaking of manifesting your own energy, did you notice who dropped the gloves when the Red Wings needed a spark against the Canucks?
"It's the second time he's done it," said Derek Lalonde.
That would be Alex DeBrincat, Detroit's smallest player and most talented goalscorer who also threw hands with Roman Josi of the Predators to spark a comeback win in late December that helped the Wings snap out of their slide. This is a connected group of players, bound by desire to end a franchise-worst seven-year playoff drought. And this is DeBrincat's team, just like it's Dylan Larkin's, two Metro Detroiters who know how much hockey matters in Hockeytown.
"It’s funny. If you put the math together, our little run into January started with him fighting Josi, and my son texted me after the game, 'That’s going to be the turning point in your season.' And I was like, 'Ehh, have you not watched us lately, Luke?'" Lalonde said with a laugh. "But I just think when someone like (DeBrincat) does that, it shows character. You fight out of your weight class like that and to handle yourself well like that, it just lifts the group. That was a nice spark, for sure."
DeBrincat survived his scrap with Ian Cole, despite giving up about half a foot and 50 pounds to the Canucks defenseman. And the Red Wings responded by scoring two third-period goals, one from finisher Daniel Sprong on a nifty backhand pass from Patrick Kane, the other from Michael Rasmussen on net-front deflection after a yeoman's shift by Detroit's third line, to drag the NHL's top team into overtime. They sunk the Canucks when Lucas Raymond set up a penalty shot for Jake Walman, whose cool, low-glove finish belied the fact that "my legs were shaking a little bit," he said.
"That’s maybe a team in the end, so it’s good that we showed up tonight and we can battle with those teams," said Walman.
The Red Wings' comeback win -- you may have noticed a theme here -- was their ninth this season after trailing in the third, most in the NHL. It's a credit to the depth they've lacked in seasons past. Sprong and Rasmussen are two of 10 double-digit goal scorers for Detroit, most in the NHL. The club had seven all of last season. And while playing from behind is "not a recipe for success," said Lalonde, the Wings are building more belief with each deficit they erase. They are learning that they are up to the challenge in front of them.
Fact is, said Lalonde, "We shouldn't be here."
"The belief comes from our room," said Walman.
"I was fielding questions in training camp on the fact that we had an eight percent chance of making the playoffs," said Lalonde. "In December it was a seven percent chance. Even with the (January) we had, I read an article, we were a 33 percent chance.
"And I get it. Again, it’s not a knock on our guys. It’s more a credit to our division and our conference, and we’re still going to face that. This is going to be a battle for us. If we are going to be fortunate enough to get over that line, it’s probably going to be Game 82, fighting for every point we can. I just think, to get there, you gotta have some believability and wins like this certainly help".
The Red Wings were three points out of the playoffs when they went West to open 2024, needing to jump four teams. Now they're four points clear of the cutline and neck and neck with the Leafs and Lightning for the No. 3 seed in the Atlantic. They are finally catching up in a division where they've long been left in the dust, as they embark on another West-coast swing Tuesday night in Edmonton. Perron is right: January was just the start.
"These games are going to get harder and harder here," he said.
After the Oilers, who just won 16 straight, the Red Wings run right back into the Canucks, followed by the Flames and Kraken, who are scratching and clawing like Detroit for every point. Walman called it a "season-defining road trip" after Monday's practice. That might be a stretch in February, but the Wings will come home with just seven games to play before the March 8 trade deadline, including two against the Avalanche and another against the Panthers. With a number of attractive trade assets on the roster -- you can start with Kane and Perron -- they still have to convince Steve Yzerman to at least keep the team intact. You saw what happened last year when they didn't.
"We got 11 games until the deadline, so I got a similar number in my head," Perron said with a smile. "I won’t share it this time, I’ll see what happens, but I think it’s important to have a goal in life. ... I just felt like for the last month, we really needed that to just get back in it. And we haven’t made (up) that much ground either, so we gotta keep pushing."
Five points on this trip would be a win for the Wings, but you get the sense that they're eyeing more. This team grows hungrier with each win it devours, tops in the East in points percentage (.786) since the new year. The only NHL teams who have been better are the next two on Detroit's schedule. If not a defining road trip for the Wings, it has the potential to be an affirming one.
They say they shouldn't be here. It's getting harder and harder to believe them.